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Navigating the Procurement Obstacle Course
APMP-NCA MID-ATLANTIC
CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015
WATERFORD CONFERENCE CENTER | SPRINGFIELD, VA OCTOBER 22, 2015
Defensive Tactics: Art & Science of Wining the Recompetes
Marina GorenPresident/CEOSmart BD Consulting
Introductions
– Proposal industry thought leader, active APMP member
– Presenter at the APMP Conferences 2014 and 2015– Taught many Capture/Proposal Courses– President & CEO of Smart BD Consulting, Inc. –
BD/Capture/Proposal Development firm in MD/DC/VA area
– Extensive BD, Capture and Proposal experience with a background at IBM, Raytheon, ASRC, SRA International, Dell Government Solutions, SGT and numerous other companies
– Directly responsible for capture of over $4.5B in new business over the course of last eight years
– Was instrumental in growing a company (ASRC Primus) from 2 FTEs to over 1,500 FTEs and over $60M in annual revenues over the course of 5 years
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 2October 22, 2015
Agenda
– Five Reasons Why the Recompetes Are Important– Why are the recompetes hard to win?– Recompete Case Studies and Lessons Learned– Recompete Activities Throughout the Acquisition Lifecycle Documenting Performing RFP Shaping Solution Shaping Proposal Development Start All Over
– Conclusion/Take-Aways
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 3October 22, 2015
Five Reasons Why the RecompetesAre Important
– Reason #5: Keeping loyal staff
– Reason #4: Maintaining good past performance and qualifications/ capabilities
– Reason #3: Building on successful customer relationships to organically grow the contract
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 4October 22, 2015
– Reason #2: Sustaining a strong ongoing revenue stream
– Reason #1: If you cannot sustain current contracts – new work will only be replacing lost work and business will not grow overall
Why are the Recompetes Hard to Win?
– Contract Performance Have you delivered on all your promises? Are you doing a good job and does the
customer love you?
– Constant budget pressures How do you lower your price and explain why
you have been charging more previously?
– Perceived Lack of Innovation If it’s a good improvement idea, why have you
not done it yet?
– Tough Competition Do they have reasons to ghost you and how
do you neutralize the competition?
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 5October 22, 2015
“Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.”- Andy Grove
Recompete Case Studies
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 6October 22, 2015
Case Study 1: a long-term, well-performing incumbent with close customer relationships
– Situation: High-performing, well-liked incumbent Won this contract twice before Great relationship with the customer
– Course of action: Every formal RFP request was granted (i.e. drastic
page count increase) Applied their knowledge of the contract and
customer needs Hired a consultant to “bring it home”
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 7October 22, 2015
Result: Won without discussions! (best proposal out there by far!)
– Lessons Learned: It’s not only about the customer – it’s also about the
competition Don’t become complacent – even if you are “the
team to beat”
Case Study 2: A high-complexity project with poor performance and little corporate oversight
– Situation: Lower CPARs – repeated in several marking periods Numerous customer complaints – not being addressed Personnel performance problems PM – not well performing and not well liked
– Course of action: Replaced the PM Immediately put a POAM in place to institute now
processes/SOPs Brought in new experts (as Key) Made investments Worked toward an ISO certification
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 8October 22, 2015
Result: Won!– Lesson Learned: It’s never too late to turn things around There are effective win strategies even for a hard-to-win
recompete bid
Case Study 3: an incumbent loved by the client; excellent performance; medium job complexity
– Situation: Incumbent – loved by the customer PM came from the Government and has close
relationships At Industry Day – made clear to everyone that the
incumbent is performing great and no improvements are necessary
– Course of action: Capitalize on accomplishments Interview technical staff and best capture “as is”,
showing our understanding Scare them of any potential changes (recompete
scare tactics)
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 9October 22, 2015
Result: Lost! (Outbid on price and Contracts Office made the final decision based on cost)
– Lessons Learned: Know your Gov’t decision makers Don’t underestimate the competition / price
competitively Fight incumbinitis!
Recompete Lifecycle
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 10October 22, 2015
Appoint SSA; Market Survey/
RFI
Develop Acquisition
StrategyDevelop Draft
RFP
Industry Day/One-on-Ones/Q&As
Refine RFP / Eval. Criteria; Finalize SEB
Answer Questions Evaluate Debrief
Program Planning &
BudgetTransition In
Contract Start Release RFI/Sources
Sought
Release Draft RFP
Release Final RFP
Proposals Due
Contract Award
Federal Government Contract Acquisition Cycle
Performing RFP Shaping Solution Shaping Develop Proposals
Documenting
Contract Recompete Lifecycle Phases
Documenting
Documenting
– Document the Debrief– Archive Proposal and all of the
Capture Artifacts– Collect and store Award
Notification information (e.g. Source Selection Letter)
– Conduct a Lessons Learned session
– Document Technical data during the Phase-In knowledge transfer (e.g. processes, SOPs, tools, etc.)
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 11October 22, 2015
Evaluate Debrief
Contract Award
Documenting
Proposals Due
Transition In
Contract Start
Transition In
Performing
– Conduct Monthly Program Status reviews
– Perform executive customer visits (at least quarterly)
– Review CPARs evaluation and apply any corrective actions – if necessary
– Validate proposal promises – make sure they are getting implemented
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 12October 22, 2015
Program Planning &
Budget
Contract Start
Performing
Pre-Draft: RFP Shaping (Defensive Techniques)
– Conduct a thorough online research – what can the competitors see?
– Brief and communicate with staff on the contract
– Execute a thorough customer call plan (voice of the customer)
– Have lunches with team leads (voice of the team)
– Vet any potential teammates– Shape the RFP – Engage a 3rd Party to do a contract
performance evaluation– Plan for contingencies– (i.e. a
change in the acquisition strategy)
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 13October 22, 2015
Appoint SSA; Market Survey/
RFI
Develop Acquisition
StrategyDevelop Draft
RFP
Release RFI/Sources
Sought
Release Draft RFP
RFP Shaping
Post-Draft: Solution Shaping(Defensive Techniques)
– Continue to execute customer call plan
– Finalize the Team– Neutralize any existing subs
that may compete against you– Start solutioning– Identify Key Personnel,
prepare resumes– Conduct a Black Hat– Continue to Shape the RFP
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 14October 22, 2015
Industry Day/One-on-Ones/Q&As
Refine RFP / Eval. Criteria; Finalize SEB
Solution Shaping
Release Draft RFP
Release Final RFP
Proposal Development
– Put together a professional proposal team
– Ask strategic questions– Develop the proposal – pair a
proposal expert with a SME -interview
– Show contract evolution: Accomplishments to Date -> Current Efforts -> Future Improvements
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 15October 22, 2015
Answer Questions
Release Final RFP
Proposals Due
Develop Proposals
Post Award – start all over
– Document the debrief– Archive the RFP documents– Conduct Lessons Learned– Make sure to deliver on
proposal promises!
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 16October 22, 2015
Evaluate Debrief
Contract Award
Documenting
Proposals Due
Transition In
Contract Start
Transition In
Conclusion/Take Aways
– Turn your own “offensive” capture strategies into “defensive” capture strategies
– First sustain – then expand
MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 17October 22, 2015
– Fight incumbinitis!– Make the recompetes a priority
Thank You!
Marina GorenPresident/CEO, Smart BD Consulting
– Email: [email protected]– Phone: (410) 456-9993– Web: www.smartBDconsulting.com– LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/marina-goren/0/83a/268
October 22, 2015 MID-ATLANTIC CONFERENCE & EXPO 2015 18